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Load SSH keys automatically on macOS

Reference for loading SSH keys if you use macOS.
Read time 1 minuteLast updated 21 days ago
If you use macOS, follow these steps to configure the OpenSSH client so you can use your passphrase-protected SSH key without prompts.

Prerequisites

  • macOS 10.13 or later.

Before you begin

Check if you have any existing SSH keys. Refer to the GitHub Docs article, Checking for existing SSH keys.
If you don't have an SSH key:
  1. Create one by following the GitHub Docs article, Generating a new SSH key.
  2. Add the new SSH key to your GitHub account, by following the GitHub Docs article, Adding a new SSH key to your GitHub account.

Procedure

  1. Check your home folder for an 
    .ssh
    subdirectory and check if it contains a 
    config
    file. Note: 
    .ssh
    is a hidden subdirectory.
  2. Create the 
    ~/.ssh/config
    file if it doesn't exist.
  3. Add the following content to 
    ~/.ssh/config
    to set the key to load in the authentication agent and specify its use by the target server. Make sure you add this entry before any global settings marked as 
    Host *
    .
    Host SERVER_NAME    UseKeychain yes    IdentitiesOnly yes    IdentityFile FILE_PATH        
    • SERVER_NAME
      is the server that uses the file specified by 
      IdentityFile
      . A sample value is 
      github.com
      .
    • FILE_PATH
      is the path to the SSH file you created. A sample value is 
      ~/.ssh/<FILE>
      , where 
      <FILE>
      might be 
      id_rsa
      , 
      id_ecdsa
      , 
      id_ed25519
      , or a custom name.
    Example:
    Host github.com    UseKeychain yes    IdentitiesOnly yes    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
  4. Open the Terminal application.
  5. Load your key file into the 
    ssh-agent
    , replacing 
    <FILE>
    with the actual file name of your key, then type your passphrase, if prompted.
    ssh-add ~/.ssh/<FILE>
    Example:
    ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
Configuration is complete. macOS starts 
ssh-agent
by default, so you can now use the Unity Package Manager to fetch packages from that Git repository over SSH using your passphrase-protected SSH key.

Additional resources